President Trump announced Saturday he would impose a 10% tariff on imports from eight NATO allies — including Denmark — until a deal is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.
Why it matters: The threat marks the most significant step yet in Trump's campaign to acquire the vast Arctic territory, which has been controlled by Denmark for centuries.
- The tariffs, which Trump said would start on Feb. 1 and increase to 25% starting in June, would jeopardize recently finalized trade deals with the European Union and the United Kingdom.
What they're saying: Trump said on Truth Social said that tariffs imposed on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom "will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland."
- Trump said the U.S. is "immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades."
- Trump has often complained that the U.S. subsidizes the security of NATO allies, and more recently claimed that America must control Greenland in order to fend off threats from China and Russia.
The big picture: The eight NATO allies named by Trump have expressed solidarity with Greenland in the face of U.S. threats, and recently deployed a small contingent of troops to the island for a reconnaissance mission.
- "These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable," Trump said on Truth Social.
- Denmark and Greenland — where protests against the U.S. were held on Saturday — have condemned Trump's threats and urged the White House to reconsider its approach.
France's President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post on Saturday, "France is committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations, in Europe and elsewhere."
- "This guides our choices. It underpins our commitment to the United Nations and to its Charter," Macron added, noting it was the reason France was supporting Ukraine — and now Greenland, too.
- "No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations," he wrote.
Between the lines: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News on Saturday that Denmark should not be able to control a place he claimed it could not defend.
- "Denmark is a tiny country with a tiny economy and a tiny military. They cannot defend Greenland," Miller said, arguing that raw military power has been the deciding factor in territorial control "for 500 years."
- Miller did not mention that Denmark is a member of NATO, which is the world's largest military alliance and obligated to treat an attack on one ally as an attack on all.
The intrigue: It is unclear which legal authority Trump would lean on to impose these tariffs.
- The White House's go-to authority — the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which has underpinned most global tariffs — is facing legal scrutiny from the Supreme Court, with a decision due any day now.
The bottom line: Trump has threatened tariffs on much of the world— and blown up global economic norms — to bring nations to the negotiating table.
- Now he is turning to a similar playbook in his efforts to acquire Greenland.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to add a statement from French President Macron.
